Estimating

New labor-saving products are out there In just a few short weeks , the NECA Show, hosted by the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), will be underway in Boston. Are you attending? Will your estimators be atten...

Electrical estimating is a tough, involved subject to teach and a very hard subject to learn. This is not a class they teach in high school or in most colleges, if any. Heck, I don’t recall the word “estimating” ever being sa...

Estimators come in all shapes and sizes. Most I have met are not very athletic, except for a few golf games between bids. I’m sure there are many who are very athletic, but let’s face it—on any given day, our most strenuous m...

As the economy stands on firmer ground, privately funded buildings are coming back to life, bringing a surge of design-build projects with it. This is very good news for estimators, because more buildings mean more work to bi...

It is already the month of May—I know, I can’t believe it either—and the feeling of spring is in the air. Spring typically means warmer weather, longer days to get the estimates done and, of course, your annual tech support f...

The upgrades are coming! The upgrades are coming! Yes, it is time for your favorite estimating software company to release its thoroughly beta-tested new features and much anticipated repairs of any bugs and glitches. In fair...

We all make mistakes. After all, we are human, aren’t we? Flesh and blood, instinct and intellect—we can’t be just computer chips and software, calculators and ScaleMasters. Yes, estimators are only human, and we make mistake...

Estimating can get boring. Count, count, count—highlight all the little symbols, color all the lines red, enter the counts into the computer. Clicking the days away, one job at a time. It is nobody’s fault—any job can become...

In this highly competitive industry, you need to bid more work than you are capable of doing. Most of this work comes with unforgiving deadlines and requires many hours of estimating. Hours you don’t have. Estimators you don’...

In my December column, I recommended you review last year’s estimating strategy. By examining what worked and the reasons for losses, you understand how to be more successful next year. Well, guess what? It is next year and t...

My final thoughts for 2005 are for all the owners, chief and senior estimators out there—the team leaders who bear the responsibility of determining which direction their estimating department will take their company. You are...

Even with the best software, training and proficient users-a program is only as good as its parts database. A parts database must be accurately built and consistently managed. Just like your company trucks, it is an important...

The simple days of “base bid only” are long gone. Today’s bid form is alive, changing on a moment’s notice and getting meaner every day. It doesn’t know who you are and it doesn’t care how you laid out your estimate. It doesn...

A new week of estimating has begun, giving you another chance to beat your bid schedule. You tell yourself that this week you will take a lunch break every day and go home on time. You will not be distracted. You will make ev...

In today's fast-paced and highly competitive industry, estimators are often asked to achieve the impossible: estimate numerous projects, both large and small, and in a very short amount of time. The pressure placed on an esti...

Though estimating software has become more sophisticated, the process of scrutinizing a blueprint and figuring labor and material costs still needs the human touch. Integrated software programs can do takeoffs from a digital...

In June 2003, Richard Manrod presented his paper, “The How, Why and Future of Estimating” to NECA's Academy of Electrical Contracting. Since things change so rapidly, we talked to Manrod to find out if some of his ideas have...

“We wanted to streamline the number of programs and eliminate multiple entries into different programs. We wanted a product that everyone in the company could use, from management to accounting to the project managers and pur...

Diogenes, who wandered the streets of Athens many centuries ago, was looking for an honest man. Contractors looking for an estimator candidate face a similar situation. Field personnel see estimating as a step out of the fiel...

These days, the estimating process is not causing many estimators furrowed brows. Problems are arising with how plans are transmitted from the engineer to the contractor. Traditional project plans evolved from the pioneering...